Showing 1 - 10 of 46
Can Asean really achieve integration by 2025?
Oped, Fazil Irwan Som, Published on 17/06/2020
» Covid-19 has posed the biggest test yet for Asean. With weakened fiscal positions and a stark development gap, Asean integration remains uncertain. With five more years left, can the grouping achieve its desired community?
US presidential poll and implications
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 06/11/2020
» It is surprisingly unsurprising. Contrary to most polls and pundits, incumbent United States President Donald J Trump did not lose by a landslide in the presidential election this week. The final results are so close that both candidates, Mr Trump and Democratic Party rival Joe Biden, have claimed victory. Despite ongoing rancour and acrimony until the next US president is sworn in next January, several outcomes and implications are already clear.
Amid hazy skies, need for reform is clear
Oped, Wasant Techawongtham, Published on 12/12/2020
» I picked up my older brother who flew down from Chiang Mai a few days ago. The first thing he said to me was that when he looked down as the plane flew over Bangkok, all he saw was haze.
Myanmar grappling with infodemic
Oped, Moe Myint, Published on 25/12/2020
» Be it false claims that drinking liquor or ginger juice will repel Covid-19, or that eating leaves of the neem tree will protect one from it, Facebook user Pa Pa has encountered them all in the varied, virulent strains of misinformation thriving around the pandemic in Myanmar.
Transboundary haze control lacks political will
Oped, Danny Marks, Published on 13/03/2021
» In January, I wrote about the effects of agricultural burning upon Bangkok, and now I want to address the problem in Chiang Mai. Earlier this week residents there suffered the worst air pollution in the entire world, with PM2.5 at very unhealthy levels. The pollution is responsible for already over 30,000 people visiting hospitals for respiratory illnesses this year.
A long road to recovery for Thailand
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 10/06/2021
» The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in last December's forecast raised its global GDP growth forecast for 2021 from 4.2% to 5.8% as of May 2021, primarily due to the achievement of Covid-19 vaccine rollout in developed nations. The GDP growth rate for the US is estimated to be as high as 6.9% this year -- an admirable rise from a contraction of 3.5% last year. The US is not the only economy that benefits from a quick vaccine rollout. The UK economy is projected to grow at an even higher rate of 7.5% in 2021 as more than 40% of its population has been fully vaccinated and about 60% of its population received at least one dose.
New season for labourers
Oped, Editorial, Published on 12/11/2021
» The end of this year will be remembered as the season of reopening -- a sign that society is returning to normalcy after living under a quasi-straitjacket lifestyle under the Covid-19 pandemic.
What will Japan's Fumio Kishida do?
Oped, Koichi Hamada, Published on 12/11/2021
» A month after becoming Japan's 100th prime minister, Fumio Kishida has another reason to celebrate. On Wednesday, he was re-elected as Japan's prime minister by parliament after the ruling coalition won the general election last month. The question now is how will he use this impressive result, and what his leadership will mean for Japan.
China, US woes will spell Thai gloom
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 18/11/2021
» On Nov 10, there was a drama in the international financial market. DMSA, a German financial market watchdog, issued a press release stating that China Evergrande Group defaulted on interest payments to international investors and was preparing bankruptcy proceedings.
Thai politics' murky tunnel to nowhere
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 07/01/2022
» Starting out a new year should engender a sense of hope and optimism that tomorrow can be better than yesterday. But the reality in Thailand suggests otherwise. A sense of prolonged malaise and discontent pervades the scene, where politics will likely prove murky with an economy persistently in the doldrums, underpinned by continuing societal divisions and broad-based unhappiness. Unless drastic changes and reforms take place very soon, this year is likely to further solidify the onset of a decade of decay and stagnation.